


Of Books and Fairy Tales

by little_werewolf, muse_in_absentia, rscollabmods



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fic & Podfic, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Podfic, Podfic Length: 20-30 Minutes, bookshop au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-07-10 17:37:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6998092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_werewolf/pseuds/little_werewolf, https://archiveofourown.org/users/muse_in_absentia/pseuds/muse_in_absentia, https://archiveofourown.org/users/rscollabmods/pseuds/rscollabmods
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While Sirius tried to balance hiding his magic from the beautiful muggle that kept coming in to his shop with the desire to ask the man out, he was unaware that he wasn't the only one keeping secrets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Books and Fairy Tales

**Author's Note:**

> This collaboration was created as part of the 2016 round of [rs_collab](http://rs-collab.livejournal.com/)
> 
>  **TEAM: Galaxy Wolves**  
> [Direct link to podfic](https://soundcloud.com/user-467640161/of-books-and-fairy-tales).

 

There was a deep hiss in the back room of Sirius’ bookshop; the modified cloaking charm he was currently reapplying fizzling through the air like a volatile static charge. He winced slightly as he felt his hair crackle with the force of the charm, but he held steady as the pale blue glow settled into the walls, fading out of sight. It wouldn't do to have muggles finding the less-than-muggle-friendly half of his bookshop. Just the day before, Mrs. Willert had spent a little too long for Sirius' liking staring in the direction of the invisible door when she had come in for her weekly collection of romance novels.

Before he had the chance to send a smoothing charm at his now charm-frizzy hair, the chime over the front door sounded.

"Bollocks," he muttered, checking the clock over the little desk he kept for business work. It unhelpfully told him that it was time to make coffee, something he never did at work. Somehow he had lost track of the time while finessing the details of his overworked spell for keeping the back half — the magical half — of the shop strictly for the magical clientele. 

Even worse, it wasn't just any customer, because it was Tuesday afternoon. It was Tuesday afternoon and Sirius didn't have time to fix his hair, or get a few extra hours of sleep so the bags under his eyes weren't so noticeable. It was Tuesday afternoon, and that meant Remus.

Remus, who had been coming every Tuesday for the last four months, sometimes leaving with a couple of cheap paperbacks, sometimes spending hours just running his fingers gently over column after column of books, but leaving with nothing except another small piece of Sirius' sanity.

Tucking his wand into the specially-crafted holster he had James custom make for him, which fit securely up the sleeve of his muggle dress shirt, he hurried out of his small office. Remus was browsing through the mystery section, picking up books and putting them down again nearly as quickly, when Sirius slipped quietly into the front room. He stood watching for a minute before, taking in the way Remus' grey jumper hung a little more loosely than the last time he saw it; the way Remus moved slowly, stiffly; the way he winced when his battered satchel swung into his hip. A not insignificant part of Sirius wanted to bundle Remus up in a heavy blanket and take him home and make him tea. The rest of him wanted to bundle Remus up and take him home, but not for tea.

He shook his head, and intentionally bumped into one of the shelves, making just enough noise that it was obvious he was there.

Remus turned slowly, but he was smiling, so Sirius took that as a good sign.

"And what can I help you find today, Remus?" He asked, feeling his own answering smile forming without his permission.

"You could always tell me where you found that tea you offered me last week," Remus answered by way of greeting. 

"Sorry, that information is classified." Sirius leaned against one of the tightly packed shelves, crossing his arms and smirking just a little. "But I'd be more than happy to make you some more, if you'd like. You know, for while you're browsing."

"You know I'm going to get that information out of you sometime," Remus chuckled, putting down the book he had been holding since Sirius came out.

"You can try."

The way Remus arched one eyebrow at him made Sirius' pulse thud heavily in his ears. "I have ways." Remus voice faded as Sirius slipped back to his small office. 

There wasn't a real stove, so he pulled out his self-heating kettle and put a generous helping of the Temperance Tea that he had bought off Peter last month into two large teacups. It was meant to help keep him calm in the face of frustrating customers, but it had the added benefit of being really good for aches and pains. And being rather delicious. Remus seemed to pull out a long buried protective side in him, looking like he would blow away in a stiff breeze, always moving as if his joints were stuffed full of Prickling Poppy seeds.

The kettle started screeching _Hot! Hot! Hot!_ startling Sirius out of his thoughts, and making him once again very glad that he had woven silencing charms into the walls of his office. It wouldn't do at all to let the incredibly attractive muggle wandering around the shop hear the kettle wailing in a tinny approximation of English. It wouldn't do to let any muggles hear that, but Sirius wasn't ready to risk the highlight of his week not coming back anymore.

He shuffled the untidy stack of parchment on his desk around, trying to keep it from spilling onto the floor while he waited what seemed like a reasonable amount of time for a kettle to heat without magic. Then he poured two cups of tea and carefully angled himself through the doorway and back into the stacks looking for Remus.

A stack of books had tumbled over into the aisle, and Sirius stepped carefully over it, trying not to spill the tea. He found Remus in a dusty corner looking at some of the books. In fact, Sirius was fairly certain that Remus had been in that corner every Tuesday for the last four months, looking at the same ancient copy of the collected works of Oscar Wilde. It was by no means a first edition, but it was close. Sirius wasn't sure if Remus actually wanted to buy it and just wasn't for some reason, or if there was something about the smell of the oldest books that drew him in. Remus did seem to have a hidden tendency towards sniffing the books. 

Of course, Sirius loved the smell of old books himself; it was part of the reason he continued to run this shop long after it has served it's initial purpose of ridding him of all his family's questionably legal books as quickly as possible as soon as he had inherited them.

Rather than interrupt immediately, Sirius stood at watched as Remus ran a fingertip down the spine of the book in question, his eyes distant.

"It's a lovely book," Sirius said softly, holding out the cup of tea sort of like an offering, not quite sure what he was apologizing for, but feeling like he should anyway. The air was thick with dust and squirreled away words, spilling off crumbling pages and sticking to the back of his tongue.

"Thank you," Remus said, nodding at the tea and not replying about the book, instead, turning his back resolutely and walking to the pair of armchairs that ostensibly were for guests to use to peruse the books while making selections, but that Sirius had actually bought so he and James would have someplace to lounge around while waiting for customers. Lately they had seen far more use from Remus than James, who was busy planning a wedding. Or, more accurately, stressing out about Lily planning a wedding. There were only so many times Sirius could listen to rants about the difference between blush pink gowns and sunrise pink gowns before the temptation to simply charm James' face pink became too great. He was now banned from any wedding discussions for having done it once, not long after James had first proposed.

Remus sat gingerly on the edge of one of the large overstuffed blue seats, letting his satchel fall to the floor at his feet. Sirius flung himself down, slinging one leg over the arm of the second chair and watched as Remus slowly sank back until he was practically curled entirely in on himself. Sirius was struck by a rather sudden desire to smooth him out, to find every long line that stretched between the pieces that made Remus up and untangle them.

Instead, he just lifted his own teacup in a mock solute. "Ta, mate."

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Remus frowned and took a deep breath. "I don't suppose you'd let me return the favor one of these days. Maybe in the form of letting me buy you a pint at the pub down the street?" Remus wasn't quite looking at him, more intent on staring at the way his tea sloshed against the edge of his cup while his hands shook. 

Sirius blinked once, twice, trying to decide if his lungs were still working, or if he had been hit with a stray muddling charm. He thought about asking if Remus meant as a date, but then he saw the flush coloring just the tips of Remus' ears. It made him want to nibble on them, but he quickly suppressed that thought. 

"I would love that," he answered gently, hoping to prompt Remus to look up. It didn't work, but he did see some of the stiffness in the way Remus held himself dissolve out of his shoulders. "Maybe you could meet me back here when I close up at eight and we could make it dinner."

That did get Remus to look at him, smiling a little deprecatingly. "Could we make that tomorrow? I have..." He trailed off for a moment before snorting, so quietly that Sirius almost missed it. "…other plans, unfortunately."

"Gladly," Sirius smiled his most charming smile, although he was sure it was a little wobbly from lack of oxygen. Someday he would remember how to breathe even when faced with Remus and his beautiful smile and warm eyes. Of course, if James was anything to go by, even after seven years with Lily the wonder had never worn off, so maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he would have to commit himself to a lifetime of smittenly choking on his own air. Any maybe he was getting ahead of himself.

The little lines between Remus' eyes softened slightly, and Sirius counted that as a success, even if he wasn't sure if it was from his easy acquiescence or because he didn't ask about Remus' already existing plans. His curiosity was strongly outweighed by the way Remus' eyes had gone unfocussed when he had mentioned being busy, his mouth pinched slightly at the corners.

"Thank you," Remus said softly, finally looking up and meeting Sirius' eyes.

"Hey, I'm getting a date with a beautiful man out of the deal, I think I should be thanking you."

Remus laughed, the last of the tension visibly draining out of him as he uncurled and finished off his tea. "I should get going. I'm running late as it is."

Sirius barely managed to keep himself from whinging like a lost crup, just biting back the _But you just got here_ that was threatening to escape without his express permission. "If you must," he said instead, faking a long-suffering sigh. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

While Remus carefully balanced his now empty tea cup on a precariously stacked tower of paperback Westerns that Sirius hadn't gotten around to sorting through yet, Sirius surreptitiously flicked his wand while it was still in its holster and hoped that the restricted movements didn't totally bugger up his modified summoning charm. He managed to contain his smile when Remus didn't notice the extra weight in his bag as he slung it delicately over his shoulder.

"You still close at eight tomorrow, right?" Remus asked rather than answer directly, eyes straying to the way dusk was starting to creep in through the windows, painting everything in muted greys.

"I could make it seven, if you would rather," Sirius offered, trying not to sound too eager.

"No need to close early on my account," Remus smiled, inching towards the door.

"I know, I would just be excluding so many other customers. You see how crowded this place is all the time."

Remus chuckled, and Sirius mentally cheered. "Well, then I'll be here at seven."

Clapping a hand on Remus' shoulder, Sirius held the door open for him, letting himself trail his fingers down the edge of Remus' arm in a way he never would have before today. "I'm looking forward to it, Remus."

"Me too." The words were soft, nearly lost as Remus trudged away from the shop, moving much older than his years.

*****

Sirius was checking his jumper and denims for the sixth time when he heard the bell over the door chime. Spinning around he was faced with a mop of messy black hair and thick glasses over a remarkably cheerful grin.

"Hey, James."

"Don't sound so happy to see me, mate," James muttered with a wry grin, flinging himself down into one of the armchairs and casually twirling his wand, shooting off purple sparks that crackled in the air.

"You know this is the muggle section of the shop, right? I'm quite sure I've mentioned it a few times. Every time you visit. If you're so bored you must resort to children's tricks at least do it in the back."

James let out a large sigh, but tucked his wand away. "It's not like there's ever anyone in here anyway. It's not Tuesday. Speaking of which," he flashed a smirk towards Sirius, pushing his glasses up his nose and leaning forward as Sirius sank down into the second chair across from him, "how is your Tuesday bloke, anyway?"

Heat flooded Sirius' face, but he resolutely stared James down. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

" _James, the most beautiful bloke came into the shop today, what am I supposed to do? James, he came back today, how do I keep him coming back? James, his name is Remus and I want to have his babies._ "

"I did not say that," Sirius grumbled, flicking his wrist and hitting James with a quick stinging hex, making James yelp but grin harder. "And even if I did, it's nothing worse than what you said when Lily still hated your sorry arse."

"Well, in that case you'll be proposing within the week. Please don't plan the wedding for the same day as mine, Lily would have my bollocks if I had to find a new best man on short notice."

Sirius snorted, regretting that they were not in the back of the store with the magical books so he could charm James' hair blue, or boils all over his face. Something that would make Lily laugh at him before she took pity and set him to rights. "That might be getting a bit ahead of things."

Poking at the same stack of Westerns that Remus had used for a coaster just the day before and that Sirius had meant to sort but was too distracted by the idea of dinner, James grinned and leaned forward, his eyes glinting behind his glasses. "Yeah, you might need to work up the nerve to ask the poor bloke out without scaring him off."

"No, I really don't," Sirius muttered, running his fingers through his hair and taking a long breath, trying to separate the excitement from the nausea inducing nerves at the thought of a real date with Remus.

"You do if you ever want to stop moping about my flat and driving Lily spare. She's threatened to hex me if I can't make you stop. So please, for my sake, just ask Remus to dinner or some shite."

"That's really, really not necessary, James," Sirius sighed, deciding that his shoes were suddenly endlessly fascinating. "He, erm, beat me to it, actually."

James choked over what appeared to be nothing but air, his face turning slightly purple, his glasses slipping down his nose. "You have a date? No wonder you wore your tightest trousers."

Trying, and failing, to bite back a grin, Sirius chuckled. "He's meeting me here at seven tonight and we're going to the pub down the block."

"So if I hang around for twenty minutes or so I'll get to meet this guy?" The teasing had gone out of James' face, and he looked nothing but curious now, but Sirius felt his insides lurch all the same.

"Please don't, James. I'd like to survive at least one date before I subject the poor bloke to you and Peter. I don't want to scare him off too soon."

"Scare who off?" The quiet voice over Sirius' shoulder made him startle a little, whirling around, face hot. He wasn't sure how he had missed the chime over the door.

The bags under Remus' eyes were worse than they had been the day before, his movements slower, and Sirius was halfway tempted to cancel their date, to offer to reschedule it, but he was afraid Remus would think he was shallow. He had to trust that if Remus showed up it meant he wanted to be there.

"James," Sirius hissed, hoping he didn't sound half as petulant as he felt.

James just grinned and leaned further back into his seat. "Oh, I think this plonker was worried that I might scare you off." James crossed his arms across his chest and pouted at Remus. Sirius was starting to consider the wisdom of apparating out of there while Remus was distracted. "Me, his best mate, scare off the first date he's had in three years. I wouldn't dare. James, by the way," he added, holding out a hand for Remus.

"No, you wouldn't," Sirius growled, sinking into his seat and wishing that it would just swallow him, while Remus shook James' hand. On second thought, his parents had a chair that did that. It looked unpleasant, so maybe just a book portkey to get him out of there immediately, before James had a chance to convince Remus this was a terrible idea, that dealing with Sirius and his insane friends was more trouble than it was worth. "Your fiancée would murder you in your sleep."

"Only because she would prefer you stop being miserable on our sofa."

Sirius dropped his face into his hands when Remus laughed and leaned against the arm of his chair. They weren't quite touching, and Sirius wanted to lean the extra few centimeters, to feel Remus' warmth against his side. He settled for slouching down and groaning. "Am I still meeting you and Pete for lunch tomorrow?" Sirius' voice was muffled because he was refusing to lift his head from his hands.

"Unless you're suddenly busy." Sirius could hear the grin in James' voice, and the urge to hex his best friend was making his fingers twitch.

Ignoring the implications, and the reflexive response to reach for his wand every time James opened his mouth, Sirius snuck a quick glance at Remus, who looked amused. Exhausted, but amused. "Well, then how about you kindly sod off, James, and I'll see you tomorrow."

James frowned, but stood, making a big show of stretching, taking his time. "I'll just let myself out the back, then. You two have fun."

"The _key_ is on the shelf by the _door_ ," Sirius called, as James let himself into the back office and the floo.

Remus waited until James was gone before heaving himself off the edge of Sirius' seat and dropping into the one James had just vacated.

"So," Remus said quietly, his voice raspier than Sirius was used to. "Would you care to explain this?" He reached into his ever-present satchel and pulled out a very familiar copy of the collected works of Oscar Wilde. Sirius couldn't quite stop his smile, although he tried to tamp it down at the frown on Remus' face.

"It's a book, Remus. I thought you might recognize one of those by now, considering the locale."

"It's a very expensive book, Sirius." Remus' voice was solemn, a little disapproving, and Sirius felt his pulse in his ears.

"I thought it made a better gift than flowers," he said weakly, hoping he hadn't overstepped for a first date.

The hand that swiped over Remus' face was shaking slightly, and he looked pale. "You can't just give me one of the most expensive books in the shop."

Sirius snorted. "Of course I can. It's my shop, and my book, and if I want to give it to you then I will."

"How did you even get the book into my bag? I swear I didn't leave it alone at all yesterday."

At that Sirius grinned. "Magic."

There was an unpleasant swooping sensation in the pit of his stomach when Remus didn't take the bait and instead continued to frown at him. Sirius shook his head. "You've been looking at that book every week since you first came in, Remus, why won't you let me give it to you?" He tried to keep his voice gentle, offering, but a hint of frustration was seeping through despite his best efforts. 

Silence crackled through the room, making the air taste stale and brittle, but Sirius fought the urge to fill it.

Finally, Remus sighed, slumping back into his chair. "You don't need to try and win me over, Sirius, you've already done that." He snorted, and Sirius didn't like the bitter tone to it. "I spent weeks walking by the shop talking myself out of letting myself go in a shop full of beautiful books run by an incredibly beautiful man. I'm not always good at depriving myself, though."

"I'm glad you didn't," Sirius said softly. "You're the highlight of my week." He paused, and smiled what he hoped was a soothing manner, but was probably a little more desperate. "I'm hoping you become the highlight of my every day."

"This is such a bad idea." Sirius barely heard Remus, but he couldn't miss the way his hands were still shaking, or the way his breathing was ragged.

"Are you alright?" There was a gnawing sense of unease that Sirius was desperately trying to ignore, but was slowly clawing its way up his throat and forcing the words out of his mouth. His leg was bouncing, and he didn't know what it started.

"Just getting over something, I'll be fine."

The urge to take Remus home, wrap him up and take care of him was back, and Sirius had to swallow twice before he could speak without his voice giving him away. "Why didn't you say something? We could have postponed."

"I didn't want you to change your mind," Remus said simply, shrugging, making himself wince slightly.

"Your health is far more important that getting to go on a date tonight, Remus. I've been waiting for you for months now, I promise I can wait a few more days until you're feeling better." It took Remus widening his eyes, mouth dropping open slightly, for Sirius to replay what he had just said and feel his cheeks heat up. "Well bugger. Fine, yes, I've pretty much wanted to pin you up against the shelf of cheap horror novels and snog you senseless since the first time you came in, and getting to know you hasn't changed that any. Now that I've thoroughly embarrassed myself, I want you to actually be able to enjoy it when we finally get to go on a date, so please don't force yourself to do this when you don't feel up to it."

"The horror shelf specifically?" Remus sounded amused, not terrified, so Sirius decided to take that as a good sign that he hadn't totally scared the other man off.

"Flattest shelf in here. I wouldn't want to hurt you in the process."

"My back appreciates that," Remus said dryly, mouth curling up in a very small smile.

"But honestly, Remus, if you need to reschedule I don't mind waiting until you can enjoy yourself."

Remus sat very still for a moment before an incredibly resigned look crossed his face, lips flattening, eyes squeezing shut briefly. "Sirius, if we're really going to do this, then you need to know, this isn't a one time thing. I'm sick. It's only contagious in very specific circumstances that I will never expose you to. It will come and go, and there will be days I really can't see you, but today isn't one of them. It's not as bad as it looks. I'm even medicated." As if to prove his point he pulled a small bottle out of his satchel, taking a swig and making a face.

Before he could put the bottle away again Sirius was hit with the overpowering smell of elf berries, fox ear and dittany. The, "Bloody Merlin, you're a werewolf," slipped out before he even realized he had thought it.

If the smell hadn't been enough to confirm it for Sirius, the way that Remus completely froze, eyes going wide, what little color he had draining from his face, would have done it. "Sirius," he whispered, his voice cracking, as he tried to scramble to his feet, hindered by the way his knees didn't seem to be working.

"Remus, it's okay."

Remus didn't seem to hear him, as his face took on that look of someone preparing for apparition, little concentration lines forming at the corners of his eyes.

"Remus, wait! That won't—" Sirius trailed off as the backlash whipped around the room, leaving them both temporarily unable to breathe. "—work."

"Anti-apparition?" Remus wheezed when the air returned to normal, sinking back into the chair he had tried to flee, and dropping his head into his hands.

Sirius let his wand slide out of its holster and sent a light energizing enchantment towards Remus to counter the effects of the residual magic from the failed apparition. "Sorry about that. It was a bit of a rush job after a close call with James popping in while Mrs. Willert was here with her husband. So I've had to limit apparition to the back room with all the magical books." He paused and frowned before adding, "I never did get the hang of making it not bite back."

"Is that what's on the other side of the door behind the fantasy novels?"

And apparently they weren't talking about the occasionally furry beast in the room. Sirius wanted to press the issue, but decided that as long as Remus wasn't trying to escape anymore he would give him a few minutes.

"Sometimes I think I'm far more clever than I actually am," Sirius said by way of reply. "Also, I spent all this time thinking you couldn't see that door."

"Ah," Remus actually chuckled, which made Sirius relax slightly. "Muggle-proofing concealment charm?"

"Yeah," Sirius breathed, finally managing to catch Remus' eye. "Remus..."

The constriction Sirius felt in his chest when Remus' shoulders sagged was nearly choking him. He wanted nothing more than to be the thing that kept him from ever looking that defeated ever again, and instead here he was being the thing that caused it. A quick flick of his wand had the self-heating kettle and two mugs with tea leaves floating out of his office to join them.

"It's Temperance Tea," he said softly, pouring already hot water into the mugs and floating one over to Remus. "Calming nettles, fairy fern, and a few other things that I can't remember off the top of my head. I get it from my friend Peter, who works in his family's apothecary and gives me a really good price."

Remus was refusing to look up, although he did take the offered tea. When he finally spoke his voice was so soft that Sirius had to strain to hear him. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, although, in my defense I did think you were a muggle."

"Remus." No response. "Remus, please look at me." It looked like it took Remus actual physical effort for him to pick his head up and meet Sirius' eyes. "Do I look like I care?" He asked softly.

"Maybe not right now," Remus started, but Sirius cut him off.

"And we don't know what will happen in the future. We could decide this isn't going to work for reasons that have nothing to do with the phase of the moon. But why decide that before we even try it?"

"But I'm a dark creature," Remus whispered, dejected, looking away again.

"And a good person. I could tell you all sorts of stories about my family and dark magic, but that's not really the kind of conversation you have on a first date, so I'm not going to. We'll save that conversation for down the road. For tonight, just let me say that I don't give a niffler's backside that you're a werewolf, but I do care that you look like a quick jinx would knock you over. So how about we skip the pub and order takeaway, which we can eat right here so you can relax."

"You still want this to be a date." It wasn't a question, but Sirius didn't like the not insignificant amount of wonder he could hear in Remus' voice, so he got up and crossed to where Remus was sitting, resting his palm on Remus' cheek, thumb running lightly over the purpling beneath his eye.

"I still want to snog you senseless against the shelves, too, but I'll defer on that until you're feeling a little better."

Leaning into Sirius' hand, Remus smiled, a warm little thing, and pressed a kiss to the Sirius' palm, making Sirius' pulse jump into his throat. "I think I could be persuaded to take you up on that while we wait for our takeaway. You do have a telephone in this place, right?"

"I never did get the hang of using one of those," Sirius chuckled. "But I could floo over to the Leaky Cauldron. I'm very good at that."

Remus laced their fingers together. "That sounds about perfect."

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment here or return to [rs_collab](http://rs-collab.livejournal.com) @ livejournal to leave a comment!


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